Bianca Phillips's Blog, page 11

Carb Week: Fruit!

I'm slowly adding back carbs one by one this week after two weeks(ish) of Phil Maffetone's Two-Week Test. I did the low-carb thing as part of the Born to Run 2 training program, and the goal is to add carbs back and see how you feel — to check for "carb intolerance," if that's a real thing. Ha, it sounds iffy to me. But I did it!

On Sunday, I added back beans, and I instantly felt alive again after two weeks of feeling like trash. And then Monday, it was fruit! Now, I've never been a huge fruit eater — meaning, I rarely just pick up raw fruit and eat it. I'd rather have something salty. But my post-run fruit smoothies are different. 

I rely on protein smoothies with fruit (always a banana, usually some berries, sometimes mango or peaches or dates), flax, walnuts, and other add-ins after every run. I would prefer to sit down to a hot and savory breakfast. I just don't have time on weekdays, and smoothies are an easy way to get my carbs and protein.

But during the Two-Week Test, my smoothies got super lame. They were just protein powder, almond milk, nut butter, and seeds. No fruit. Not very thick or tasty. So I was super-glad to have my Banana-Blueberry Smoothie with Complement Protein on Monday (and every day since!).

How did I feel after that fruit? Just fine! No noticeable spike in blood sugar, no bloating. Just energized and powered for my day.

Carb Week: Beans!

It’s carb week!! After 12 days with no carbs on the Two-Week Test (yes, I cut it short), I’m slowly adding carbs back one by one.

On Sunday, I started with beans! God, I missed beans. As a mostly whole foods vegan, beans are my source of protein, and without them, I had to rely on protein powder, nuts, and seeds (and the occasional Not Burger/Beyond Burger) for protein. And well, it didn’t work so well. I felt tired the whole time, and I suspect I wasn’t getting enough protein.

For my first bean-y meal, I made some Roasted Bacon-y Chickpeas (chickpeas, olive oil, vegan bacon salt, and garlic powder) in the air fryer and added them to a salad.

Honestly, I had so many salads on the Two-Week Test that I really didn’t want another, but I had one serving of salad greens left in the giant container I bought, so I didn’t want them to go to waste. The chickpeas certainly made my salad more exciting though!

I only used a half-cup of chickpeas on the salad, but I cooked the whole can. And later in the day, I snacked on the rest of them while I made dinner. So I ate a whole can of chickpeas on Sunday, and I felt great. Much better than I’d felt in days! This, to me, was proof that my body does great with legumes — lots of them.

On Monday, I put myself to another test with this super tofu-packed stir-fry. I made tofu puffs in the air fryer and sauteed with zucchini, bell pepper, onion, and green beans. I couldn’t add rice until Tuesday, so I made a plate with extra tofu. And you know what? I felt fantastic. Yay, carbs!

Monday was also fruit day, but I’ll get to that in a post tomorrow!

Vegan Two-Week Test: The Conclusion

Woo hoo! My Two-Week Test for the Born to Run 2 program is over! In case you've missed it, I've been on a super-duper low-carb diet for the past two weeks (well, almost ... but we'll get to that in a second) as part of the Run Free program from Christopher McDougall's new-ish Born to Run 2 training guide. It's basically a follow-up to his best-selling Born to Run book, and it helps you transition to more a more minimalist style of running with a focus on foot strike and cadence. 

But for the food part, you follow Phil Maffetone's Two-Week Test and eliminate most carbs for 14 days. And then you slowly add them back in to see how you feel on different kinds of carbs. As a longtime vegan runner, I've always felt great on carbs, but I was still curious to see what I would learn — if anything — from this. You can see my last few posts for some ideas of what I ate, and here are a few things I had over the past couple days. 

I made these awesome Raw Beet Burgers in the dehydrator last week. I loosely followed this recipe but added some walnuts. I grated beets, zucchini, and carrots, added about four tablespoons of ground flax mixed with a little water (to make a paste), a handful of walnuts, a handful of pepitas, a handful of sundried tomatoes and some spices. And then I pureed it all in the food processor and made patties that I dehydrated for about 12ish hours. I had roasted broccoli with cashew cheese on the side and drizzled on cashew cheese on my burger, too.

Yesterday, I attempted to make Coconut Flour Pancakes, but well, I made scrambled pancakes. Haha. Turns out pancakes don't flip well without some gluten. They still tasted good though, so I drizzled these with tahini.

Now, about that "almost two weeks" part. The test was supposed to end Sunday evening. But I got invited to a Memphis Hash House Harriers run on Saturday, and if you know anything about hashing, it's basically a running and drinking party. Run a bit, drink cheap beer, run some more, drink more cheap beer. And another big tenant of the Born to Run 2 program is fun! And I figured fun was most important. So I ended my test on Saturday, and my first carbs were from Busch Light. HAHAHA. Not the tastiest or classiest, but the run was a blast.

This week, I'm slowly adding one type of carb each day. I started with beans on Sunday, and I'll post about that tomorrow. But by week's end, all of my carbs will be back. Yay! Here are a few things I learned on two weeks of essentially vegan keto:

1) I felt like trash the whole time. My energy was super-low during the Two-Week Test, and I felt sluggish during my runs. My normal easy pace felt hard most of the time. 

2) It's far too easy to lose weight on this plan. Now, some people may want that, so it might not be a bad thing. But I lost six pounds I didn't want to lose. That said, I'm not too worried because I'm sure those pounds will bounce right back on carbs this week.

3) It's really hard to get enough protein on the Two-Week Test if you're vegan. I relied solely on Complement protein powder, nuts, seeds, and the occasional Not/Beyond Burger. If I were to do this again (I wouldn't), I'd probably make some exceptions and allow tofu and some low-glycemic beans, like chickpeas. Protein shakes get old fast.

4) The Two-Week Test is a very high-fat diet. And I found that on days that I had a very large amount of fat, like say, two avocados and 1/2 cup of nuts in one day, I would get a stomachache. My body is fine on moderate fat, but too much fat doesn't sit well with me.

So yea, I didn't have a good experience on the Two-Week Test. But carbs are back now, so I'm feeling better already. I'll check back in with how each carb re-entry goes this week.

Vegan Two-Week Test: Burrito Bowl, Fried "Rice," and Nori Jerky

Only 3 more days of super low carbs on Phil Maffetone's Two-Week Test, y'all. I've never been so ready for a food reset to end. But I digress. Here are a few things I've been eating on the vegan version of Maffetone's carb intolerance test that I'm doing as part of the Born to Run 2 program.

Cauliflower rice has been my jam lately. It's by far nothing like real rice, but it'll do for a few days. This Cauliflower Fried "Rice" was actually really good. It had mushrooms, carrots, and onions, with some Bragg's and sesame oil. I bought a few bags of cauli rice and broccoli rice to get me through these two weeks.

Another recent hit was this Burrito Bowl with broccoli rice, sauteed cauliflower, peppers, and chard with taco seasoning, salsa, avocado, and walnut taco meat that I made with some avocado oil and taco spices.

Last night, I baked a giant spaghetti squash to eat for a few days. I went traditional spaghetti style with a sugar-free marinara from a jar, cashew mozz, and cashew parm. I made some Swiss chard (from my neighbor's garden) on the side. This was a nice, filling meal. I've found winter squashes to be pretty satisfying on this thing.

I stopped by Raw Girls to grab a salad for Monday's office lunch. The Taco Salad there is just mixed greens, walnut taco meat, guac, and pico, so it was Two-Week Test-safe and delicious. I was still pretty hungry after this though. 

And finally, this was a fun snack. I grabbed this Gopal's Power Wrap vegan jalapeno and cheese nori-wrapped jerky from a health food store in Jonesboro while visiting my Me-maw a couple weeks back. It has a sunflower seed base and fits all the Two-Week test criteria. I wish I'd bought more!

Vegan Two-Week Test: The Best Coconut Yogurt, Plus Burger Time

I'm now on day 10 of Phil Maffetone's 14-day carb elimination plan, so I'm in the home stretch. And then I'll get to "test" my body's response to each kind of carb (beans, fruit, grains, and bread) next week, and I cannot wait. I'll do a full post on my findings when I'm done, but I'll tell you now that, so far, my review of this plan is not good. 

But we'll save the negative stuff for later. Here are some things I've been eating. In fact, here's what may be the highlight of this whole challenge for me — Culina Coconut Yogurt. I found this at Sprouts while looking for a vegan, sugar-free, soy-free, starch-free yogurt. They're hard to find, as most of the unsweetened ones still contain starch. But this is just coconut, water, agar, and probiotics. And it's so good. Super duper thick and tangy! I've been enjoying this with lots of nuts and seeds. 

Once this is over, I'll buy more to have with fresh fruit and vegan honey. It's not cheap at $12 a tub, so it'll be a splurge for sure. But it's so good, and I saw Sprouts also had this in smaller, single-serve tubs for just over $3. I'd probably just buy one at a time rather than the big tub in the future.

Phil Maffetone's plan says no processed meats (it's designed for meat eaters, but there's a vegan version), but he doesn't say no processed vegan meats. So I'm allowing Beyond and Not Burgers because they're super low-carb and high-protein. And I need all the protein right now. My main source is Complement protein powder and nuts. After my Saturday long run, I had this Not Burger on a lettuce bun, and it hit the spot. Okay, a real bun would have really hit the spot, but this was okay.

My go-to meal over these two weeks has been veggie stir-fries over cauliflower or broccoli rice. This was a tasty Veggie Cashew Stir-fry. These warm meals are satisfying, even if they're not super filling. I've been just following my dinner with a protein shake.

Vegan Two-Week Test: Coconut Chia Pudding & Squash Bowl

Today marks the first day of the second week of my carb-elimination test. You can read more about why I'm doing this challenge here. But basically, it's a vegan version of Phil Maffetone's Two-Week Test to eliminate most carbs from your diet and then slowly add them back in, one at a time, to see how you feel. I'm a big fan of carbs, and I think low-carb diets for the long-term are a bad idea. This plan is part of a larger running program I'm doing from the Born to Run 2 book.

But this is just a test to see how your body reacts to each kind of carb when you add them back in, one at a time. Next week, I’ll have bean day, fruit day, grain day, and bread day, and then Friday will be “everything is back” day. And I cannot wait.

Until then, here are some things I’ve been eating. Most days, I run in the mornings, so I’ll have a handful of nuts before and a shake with Complement protein, almond butter, and almond milk after. But on non-running days, I’ve been enjoying Coconut Chia Pudding made with full-fat coconut milk and chia seeds. I’m supposed to avoid all sweeteners, even stevia and monkfruit, so this was only sweetened from the coconut.

Another breakfast that I’ve been loving is a super-simple Whole Avocado with Salsa. I sprinkle a little black salt on it so it's like scrambled eggs with salsa!

A favorite dinner so far is this Butternut Squash Bowl with kale, mushrooms, avocado, and almonds. Squash is the carbiest veggie I can have, so it was pretty satisfying. I’m finding, in general, meals without carbs are very unsatisfying. Even if I get full, it just feels like something is missing.

Last Thursday, my friend Susan and I went out for dinner, and there are only a few salad-y places in town where I know I can eat something Two-Week Test-friendly, so we went to one of them — Cheffie’s. It’s a build-your-own salad place, and I built this massive bowl with tons of avocado, artichokes, olives, onion, sundried tomatoes, almonds, and oil-vinegar dressing. Thankfully, wine is allowed on this thing! Whew. That makes it all more bearable.

Phil Maffetone's Vegan Two-Week Test

Hi, it's me! Sorry for the absence. I've got lots of food photos to catch up on from the past few weeks (still behind in posting), but I'll get back to random meal posts later. Tonight and for the next few posts, I want to talk about Phil Maffetone's Two-Week Test. But let me back up first. 

This week, I started the "Run Free" program from Born to Run 2, the training guide follow-up to Christopher McDougall's wildly popular Born to Run book. The new guide includes a training plan to help runners work on form, foot strike, cadence, and transitioning to minimalist shoes. Don't worry; I'm not going full-on barefoot running! But I am transitioning from Hokas to zero-drop Altras. But you're not here for running nerdery. You're here for food.

Well, the first two weeks of this run program includes Phil Maffetone's Two-Week Test, a carb elimination diet to test your body for tolerance to various types of carbs (beans, grains, breads, fruits, etc.). I love carbs, and they're vitally important for fuel for both life and running. So this is not "cutting carbs" keto weight loss B.S. It's just an elimination diet for two weeks while your runs are short, and then you add the carbs back in one at a time and see how your gut tolerates each one. I love a good food experiment, and I think this stuff is fun. 

So what can I eat? Vegetables (except corn and potatoes), all coconut products, nuts, seeds, avocados, oils, red wine, spirits, coffee, tea. The two-week test was designed with meat eaters in mind, and they get all the meats, too. So I've decided I can have low-carb, high-protein meats, like Beyond Burgers. And on Maffetone's website, he recommends hemp and pea protein for vegans on the test. So I'm having lots of Complement Protein to meet my protein needs.

So far, it's not so bad. Here's what I ate on Monday. I started my morning with Vegan Bulletproof Coffee with coconut oil and ashwaganda and a handful of mixed nuts before my run.

Afterward, I had a protein shake. And lunch was a Big Ass Salad larger than my head (topped with cashew ranch and half a giant avocado).

I had another protein shake in the afternoon after my gym session. And my dinner was Zoodles with Carrot Top Pesto from the Born to Run 2 book (it has lots of vegan recipes, though not all fit into the two-week test). 

One thing I'm finding is that the foods I'm eating are not dissimilar to what you'd eat on a raw food vegan diet. But I can have cooked things. 

On Tuesday, I had more mixed nuts before my run (no bulletproof coffee) and another post-run protein shake. Morning snack was Raw Flax Crackers and Wholly Guacamole. I made a big batch of flax crackers to munch on during this thing.

I had more mixed nuts in the afternoon. Nuts are my life my right now! I'm trying to eat lots of fat. And dinner was a Veggie Curry with Coconut Milk over Cauliflower Rice with Fenugreek Sprouts. It was really good, but it would have been tastier with basmati rice and chapati. Ha!

I had another protein shake after an evening workout. I'll probably have two protein shakes a day on this. I'm usually blending the powder with almonds, flax seeds, and sometimes coconut oil. But other times, it's just powder and water. Plant milks (and any dairy products) aren't allowed on the test. Except canned coconut milk, but that would get pricy fast, so I'm saving that for meals.

I'll check in throughout theses two weeks with more meals and updates on how I'm feeling. Am I ready for carbs? Yes!! But it's only two weeks!

Cucumber Sando, Asparagus Soup, & Elote Fries

I try to hit up my friends' bakery, Lulu's, most Fridays for lunch. The specials change from week to week, but my favorite recent special was this Cucumber and Cashew Cream Cheese Bagel Sandwich. Most all of the produce served at Lulu's is local and in-season, and these cucumbers were no exception. They were lightly pickled, and there was lots of fresh dill and Lulu's homemade cashew cream cheese. The sourdough bagels are also baked in-house.

On the side, I ordered the Cream of Asparagus Soup with homemade croutons. Also very good!

On Cinco de Mayo weekend, Shroomlicious offered a special of Mushroom Street Tacos for $2 each, so I got three. These were excellent. The mushrooms were heavily seasoned, and all of the flavors paired perfectly.

But the real highlight of that meal was these Elote Fries, also on special. WOW!!! Corn, cilantro, and a vegan parmesan aioli topped this massive bowl of fries. It was so deep and heavy that I ended up only eating half and saving the rest for later. I hope they add this one to the regular menu!

Bitter Melon, Moshdown Meal, and Tofu Tacos

Since January, I've been trying to incorporate more Blue Zones meals into my life. The Blue Zones are the five regions with the world's longest-lived people, and I'm trying to make it to 100, y'all! In the Okinawan Blue Zone, they eat a lot of bitter melon. And that's one veggie I'd always been scared to try. The name just sounds, well, bitter.

But I picked some up from the Vietnamese market by my house and looked up the recipe for Goya Champuru in the Blue Zones Cookbook. I used two bitter melons and made sure to scrape out the seeds before slicing. And then I sauteed them with tofu, soy sauce, and some other spices. And let me tell ya, this stuff is called "bitter" for a reason. Wow. I'm not sure I liked it. I ate it all because I knew it was good for me, and the heavy soy saucing helped. But I doubt I'll ever eat bitter melon again.

A few weeks back, I made the Ayurvedic Moshdown Meal with homemade chapati from The Plant-Based Athlete. This was a veg-heavy curry with chickpeas over turmeric-cashew basmati, and it was perfect! My chapati didn't turn out quite like it was supposed to though. Still tasty as a flatbread, but it didn't puff up.

And here are some quick week day Tofu Scramble Tacos. These were excellent!

"Fish" Sticks, "Chicken" Fries, and Fake Risotto

A few weeks back, I noticed Sprouts had a LOT of plant meat on close-out sales. And while I hate to see that because it makes me worry for the future of the plant meat industry, I also really like a sweet deal. I got a box of Good Catch Vegan Fish Sticks for a couple bucks. These were really good! I was never a big fish fan, but I always did like fish sticks in my pre-vegan days. I think it was processed enough to not be as gross to me. Ha! 

Speaking of finger foods a toddler would love, I also picked up some Morningstar Farms Pringles-flavored Vegan Chicken Fries. Now, this is just a weird concept, but I love it! Why Pringles flavor? I don't know. But they're good. Do they taste like Pringles? Not really. But if you think really hard about Pringles while you're eating them, it comes through a bit.

Imagine Vegan Cafe has a few new menu items, and I'm slowly working my way through them all. The new Popcorn Chicken Po'boy is so good! It has a Thousand Island-style sauce, and the vegan chicken is super crisp. Messy but worth it.

And finally, here's some faker risotto! The No Meat Athlete Cookbook has a recipe for Baked Sunflower Brown Rice Risotto that has the creaminess of risotto without all the stirring. You just bake the rice in the oven with a lot of liquid, sunflower seeds, and spices (including saffron, which gives it that awesome color). A nice healthy dinner.